OUT OF THE HEART [DEVOTION] - 19 september 2008
Posted by: feedtheflock_dev <feedtheflock_dev@...>
OUT OF THE HEART
James 1:26 (NIV) 26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
Jesus sums up this fact in the book of Matthew 12:34 (NIV). 34"You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." When our hearts are so full of hate, jealousy, lust, pride, lies, arrogance, boastfulness, etc, it overflows through the mouth, and that overflow will reveal the true condition of the heart. On the other hand, if our heart overflows with love, there is an undeniable condition of the heart that cannot be counterfeited.
Even though you attend church regularly, and can sing all the hymns from memory, and do all the other things expected of religious people, none of this is acceptable to God if we refuse to keep our tongues under control. We must face up to the reality that churchgoing, or even Bible reading is not the first positive requirement of the church; it is looking after and showing practical love to others in need. "The religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: Look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27 (NIV).
Someone said, "If you want to know what the church will be like ten years from now, look at society today." It only takes society five to ten years to change the church. Why should this be? Why is the church not changing society? God will someday say to all of us, "Show Me your tongue."
He will then judge us by the condition of our tongue as to the validity of our religion. Was our Religion valid and acceptable or was it not?
LISTEN FOR HIS VOICE
John 10: 27 "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."
When it comes to intelligence, sheep have a really low priority. To put it bluntly, sheep are dumb. But sheep have one redeeming characteristic that seems to give them some of saving grace. They can acutely distinguish between sounds. With all that bleating and baaing going on around them, they can pick out the faintest cry of their own babies, but even more important, they can discern the call of their own shepherd. There is some wonder why the psalmist often refers to us as sheep, i.e., "My sheep hear my voice and follow Me."
At first we may not hear the Lord's voice because our spiritual ears are filled with other cries and not trained to detect anything above the tumult, noise, and circumstances of our lives. Later, when we turn to our Shepherd, we become aquatinted with His voice. The finest sounds on earth will not be mistaken for the silent whisper or song of our Shepherd's voice. We need to learn how to listen and to identify our Master's voice.
Because of that scripture we should never be deceived into presuming that the Lord gives private and special illumination to “His most-favored Christians” (Acts 10: 34). Our Father will speak both definitely and persuasively to those who care to listen. The Lord's way of communication descends from divine illumination through His Word or the quality time we spend with Him. The development of our spiritual character rests on how we abide with Him.
What determines our relationship to God is not what a Christian utters in public prayer, or preaches from the pulpit, or how moving his testimony. Our relationship begins when a Christian speaks from their heart that God will turn listen.
From Jack at USN58@aol.com
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